Africa gets its first digital health accelerator

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If there’s one continent that presents amazing
opportunities in the health sector, it’s Africa. As its population
grows – it's expected to reach the two billion milestone by 2050 –
and gets denser, health and employment challenges will likely
become more pressing.

But innovations in healthcare could provide solutions
for both challenges at once. That’s the philosophy that motivates
Ifeanyi Oteh, cofounder of Ampion, a new African healthcare
accelerator.

“If Africa is not able to provide basic sustainability
in respect to agriculture and healthcare to its people, there would
be some negative ramifications in respect to peace in the
continent,” he explains. “It’s not a question of why, it’s a
question of must. There must be affordable healthcare and there
must be jobs in order to sustain the growth of the population.”

He insists that entrepreneurs who venture into the
healthcare sector must first and foremost be driven by the good
they can potentially do.

“The profitability will show itself after the impact”
he says. In a nutshell: it’s going to be a long run, and
entrepreneurs need financial backing and mentoring to make it.

An African accelerator to boost health
innovation

In early 2016, two years after launching its week-long
'hackathons on wheels' across Africa in its Venture Bus,
Ampion will kick off its first pan-African accelerator and focus on
digital health.

“The bus is an excellent initiative to inspire youth,
now we needed to do something for the long term,” says
Fabian-Carlos Guhl, Ampion’s cofounder.

This accelerator will support the most promising
African startups in the sector in Nairobi, Kenya on a rolling
basis, welcoming three startups for three months every
trimester.

“We’d like to create a model that resemble what’s done
in the Silicon Valley but adapted to Africa,” Guhl adds.

With the support of pharmaceuticals
giant Merck, the program
will cover their temporary installation expenses and invest in the
startups. The ticket will be defined on a case-by-case basis but
should range from $20,000 to $50,000 for a participation that will
remain lower to 10 percent equity.

A corporate accelerator

Corporate-backed accelerators, common in Europe and
the US, are new in Africa. Still, Guhl says that Ampion’s
initiative is a “win-win”.

"The launch of the first healthcare accelerator in
Africa is designed to be a major boost to healthcare innovation on
the continent," says Merck’s project manager Alexander
Hoffmann. "For us at Merck, the support of healthcare technology on
the continent is important not just in terms of social impact but
also as a long-term business investment.”

At the same time, startups can benefit from the
expertise of Merck’s teams and grow a privileged relationship with
a company that could become client, investor or acquirer. This is
what happened with MobiDawa, a startup born in
a Venture Bus expedition in 2014 and now backed by Merck.

Ampion’s program, which will be led by Guhl and Oteh,
will focus on local and international mentorship and connections,
and will end with a demo day. Companies who don’t feel ready will
have the option to stay on for an additional three months.

Startup scouting is a local
business

Given the size of the African continent, the number of
languages spoken and the lack of pan-African media and
organizations, recruiting startups is a challenge. Ampion will use
its Venture Bus program to discover and reach out to health
startups.

In 2014, four healthcare technology startups emerged
from Ampion Venture programs. They tackle issues such as infectious
disease prevention, diabetes support and digital medical
services.

Ampion is
not the only ehealth accelerator interested in Africa and the
Middle East. Rockstart, one of the most interesting accelerators in
Europe, is launching a digital
health accelerator in October.

Rockstart is launching a
digital heath accelerator in the Netherlands.

The organization, looking to attract African
and Middle East startups, received a few applications from
South Africa, Saudi Arabia and Nigeria, focusing on health
information platforms, sensor technology and supporting healthcare
workers in the field. They are still to announce the selected
startups.

But can a European accelerator prepare
startups to meet Africa’s challenges?

For Oteh, African healthtech startups face numerous
challenges specific to Africa - a grand variety of regulations in
each country, many languages, and lack of literacy, education and
health knowledge – which makes it important to work on the
infrastructure.

“We’re trying to build the bases of the ecosystem so
that people are motivated to provide tech solutions,” he says.

At the same time, “European healthcare system and
knowledge can help African health startups position themselves
better in local and international markets,” says Rockstart’s
program director and health innovation specialist Maarten den
Braber.

“Much too often we see startups that develop an
interesting idea, but struggle with getting the right proof and
feedback from professionals, patients and others in the healthcare
system,” he said. “Rockstart offers guidance, strategic
partnerships and the best mentors to bring startups in contact with
the resources they need to scale up their technology and
services.”

What about North Africa?

Most health innovations come from “high-density areas
that suffer more from diseases like tuberculosis, diabetes and
HIV”, such as Kenya or Uganda, Oteh notes.

Still, North Africa’s potential to innovate is not to
be underestimated. Doctor’s appointment
platforms have been growing across the sub-continent,
Egypt has seen the launch of health-related platforms such
as Nabdanet and Dawaa,
and a few innovations have been receiving international attention,
like Algerian startups Dialife and E-Care.
Imagine where they could go if they had access to the right
resources.

Tunisia,
especially, is making a name for itself in the Internet of Things.
So far the connected devices have been focusing on housing and
agriculture. Could health be next?

Aline is startup storyteller and journalist. Previously she was Wamda's French editor and an entrepreneur, opening The Blue House residence for international startups in a Moroccan surf town. You can follow her on Twitter @YallahAline.